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Friday, April 3, 2015

Review: The Sicarii by A.J. Bennett & Julia Crane

Tall, dark, and sexy as hell, Thorne Hollow knows the power he holds over the opposite sex and how to use it. Cast out by the gods thousands of years ago, he roams the earth working as an assassin for The Sicarii, a secret society who protects humans from all of the things that go bump in the night.

One night stands are his way of life ... until he meets a mysterious woman whose intriguing power compels him to uncover more about her and the strange magic she wields.

I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I like mythology-based books, so I picked this one up hoping to break out of my reading slump... unfortunately I felt ambivalent about all 4 episodes. I was expecting a big battle and a good love story. But I didn't get either of those. We never got anything more than one date and a few sex scenes to develop the relationship between Thorne and Kataya. There was absolutely zero emotion involved and next-to-no character development. Thorne, a demi-god, has lived for 2,000 years and was cast out of the Realm of Gods. However, the only story we got on him was superficial, that he was a supernatural assassin protecting humans on Earth and, basically, a manwhore. That was a wasted opportunity. I would have liked to see much more back story on who should have been a very interesting character.There were also some inconsistencies that drove me absolutely batty. They made me a bit ranty in my status updates on Goodreads.

"Strike 2. He is reading a file about Kataya in a manila folder... but then says that he could sense her even thru the computer screen."

I felt like these episodes are a bit of a soap opera, but without any emotion. The story started to pick up towards the end of Part 3... but then I get confused again. Thorne is an assassin for hire, but I was under the impression that he was only taking out people who are a danger to humans. Swindling old ladies out of their money and vamps draining humans, okay. But in the third part, his target is a man who is stepping out on his wife. I understand his wife wanting revenge... but it seems a bit paltry for a supernatural assassin.

Part 4, the ending, was was anticlimactic and a bit of a disappointment. All of the buildup fizzled out.Thanatos utterly failed as a villian. A huge plot to destroy both worlds! Thorne says, oh you shouldn't do that, join the Sicarri instead. What good villain gives up that easy? And Kataya's acceptance of the whole destroy-the-world, herself included, aspect... that seemed silly.

In sum, this was an okay read. But not one that I am going to be raving about.